Iris
by Probably Not Richard Nixon
Summary: Iris Vick is five years old. Karen Vick is burning her candle at both ends attempting to balance life and work. When things start to get better, naturally, they get worse. DISCONTINUED DUE TO SUCKINESS Warning: Cancer story. Read at your discretion.


**A/N: I don't know where this came from, but here it is. It's been sitting in my brain for two or three weeks, demanding to be written. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own **_**Pysch**_**, yadda, yadda. I just enjoy inflicting emotional ****pain upon myself by using Steve Franks' characters. **

* * *

BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEEEEEEEEEP!

The alarm clock was at serious risk of being shot.

Karen sat up in bed slowly, rubbing her eyes. There was no way it was actually time to get up. The alarm must have messed up. Maybe Iris thought it would be funny to change the time. A quick glance at her phone (and another to actually check the time) confirmed, though. It was time to rouse the troops.

She woke Iris up, and then returned to her own bedroom to get ready for another surely busy day. She was brushing her teeth when Iris staggered into the bathroom, half asleep, and leaned miserably against the counter top, head slumping down onto the wall.

"What's up, buttercup?" asked Karen, toothbrush in mouth. Iris groaned, lifting her head off of the wall.

"My shoulder hurts, Mommy," she said.

"Well, why do you think it hurts?" Karen asked, rinsing her mouth out. She moved over to her daughter and brushed her hair, beginning to braid it.

"I don't know," the young girl admitted.

"Do you think it might have happened while you were playing soccer with Makayla? You two were being pretty lenient with the 'no tackling' rule."

Karen finished braiding her hair.

"What does 'lenient' mean?" Iris asked.

"It's when you go easy on something, like a rule. You don't really follow it," Karen answered, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "Now go put on your school clothes."

Karen dropped Iris off at school (after giving her a dose of Tylenol for her shoulder), and made it into work fifteen minutes later than she usually did, but it didn't really matter. There was only one day-shift officer in the parking lot when she got there every morning, even fifteen minutes late.

She rolled her eyes as she got out of her car.

"Lassiter."

.

She got into her office and immediately had to take a conference call, which lasted well into her lunch time. So, she skipped it. It wouldn't be the first (or last) time she skipped lunch. There was a pile of paperwork that needed filing and a briefing on the latest case, anyway.

Once the briefing was over and the last evidence release form had been tucked away, Karen realized it was time to pick Iris up from Makayla's. She gathered up various request forms that needed to be looked over and signed off on, and stuffed them in her bag. She stepped out of her office, making her way through the bullpen toward the front. Only one day-shift officer was still at his desk (guess who).

He gave her a little half wave.

Karen waved back, heading to her car. She drove to Makayla's house, picking up Chinese take-out on the way. When she pulled into the drive way, Iris was waiting for her by the door. Karen got out and shut the car door.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" she asked as Iris ran toward her.

"Don't feel good. Wanna go home," she mumbled into her mother's side. Karen ruffled her hair.

"Alright, kiddo, let's go home. Go and buckle up while I talk to Makayla's mom," she said, and then (when Iris groaned) added, "I'll only be a minute."

Iris scampered off to the car while Karen walked into the Walshes' house.

"Knock, knock," she called as she entered the kitchen. Makayla and her mother were seated at the bar, doing homework.

"Oh, hey, Karen," Mrs. Walsh said, standing up.

"Sorry for barging in, Lynn. I just wanted to thank you for watching Iris," Karen said.

"No, it's perfectly fine! Iris is an angel. We love having her," Lynn replied, smiling. Karen smiled back tiredly.

"That's always nice to hear," she said. "I just have a question. Did Iris complain about her shoulder hurting any?"

"As a matter of fact, she did. And she said she felt sick to her stomach. I gave her a dose of Pepto and Tylenol, and she took a nap most of the afternoon," Lynn said, smile dampening. "It was probably just her lunch, though. Makayla said they had tacos today."

Karen nodded.

"Well, thank you, again, for keeping her. See you tomorrow."

"Hope she gets to feeling better!"

Karen walked back out to the car, getting in and turning the engine over.

"Iris, baby, sit up. You can't lie down: you have to buckle up. I'll get a ticket, and God knows where that'd put me with the mayor," she said, pulling out of the drive way as Iris buckled up.

"I feel sick, Mommy," Iris said, leaning against the door with her eyes closed.

"It's only a few minutes home, 'kay? Then I promise you can lie where ever you want and sleep," Karen bargained, glancing at her child in the rearview mirror. Iris nodded.

As promised, they were home in a few minutes. Karen took Iris inside and made her take a bath before letting her sleep on the couch. After dinner (which Iris barely touched), they curled up together in Karen's huge bed, or 'nest', as Iris called it.

"Are you feeling any better, baby?" Karen asked, stroking her daughter's hair.

"Yeah," Iris lied. In truth, her head was starting to hurt and she felt like throwing up, but she didn't want anymore medicine.

They lapsed back into silence, until Karen started singing softly. Iris drifted to sleep, momentarily distracted from her pains.

.

Karen woke up to whimpering. She immediately jerked her head around to Iris. She was covered in sweat, shivering. Karen touched her forehead, and quickly pulled her hand back. Iris was burning up. Karen was out of bed, searching for extra blankets, laying them on top of Iris. Then she ran down stairs to the medicine cabinet, pulling out a bottle of liquid Tylenol and a thermometer. She poured a glass of water, taking it and the medicine back up to her bedroom.

"Wake up, baby," Karen said, shaking Iris gently. Iris sat up slowly, pulling the extra blankets around her.

"I'm cold," she said.

"Open your mouth," Karen requested, wiping off the thermometer before placing it under Iris' tongue. Iris closed her eyes and nestled back into her blankets. After a few moments, the continuous beeping acknowledged what Karen had feared.

"100.4," she said, sighing, and took the thermometer from Iris, who looked at her sleepily. Karen measured out the Tylenol, passing the little cup to Iris, along with the glass of water. Iris drank the sticky, purple medicine, immediately followed by a long swallow of water, and handed them back to her mother.

"Good night, Mommy," she said, burrowing back into her blankets. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Iris," said Karen, putting the medicine cup and water glass next to the thermometer on her bedside table. She lay down, joining Iris, who snuggled next to her, in her blanket nest. "Goodnight."

.

The next morning, Iris went to the next door neighbor's house, and Karen went to work, promising to get her a doctor's appointment during her lunch break.

So Karen got into her office, made Iris a doctor's appointment, and started working on budget reports. She was finished them, and called O'Hara, who came into her office moments later.

"You needed me, Chief?" O'Hara asked, closing the door behind her.

"Yes, would you mind running these budgets down to the Mayor's office? I have a lunch appointment, and I won't be coming back," Karen said, putting the papers into Juliet's outstretched hand.

"Actually, Chief, I'm having lunch with Sh-someone and it might run a little long," Juliet said, hoping her little error was unnoticeable.

"That's fine O'Hara, pass them off to Lassiter, then," Karen said. Juliet nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh, and, O'Hara?" Karen added. Juliet turned back around. "I couldn't care less about you and Mr. Spencer dating. Just keep it out of the station and any crime scenes."

Juliet flushed bright red and nodded.

"Yes, ma'am," she squeaked. "I'll take these to Lassiter."

Karen had to smile. It was cute how Juliet thought they were being sneaky. But now, she had a sick little girl to take to the doctor.

…

"Why do I have to take papers to the Mayor's office?" Lassiter asked, drumming his fingers against the desk. He looked up at Juliet. "Why can't you do it?" He had plans, contrary to popular belief. He was going to spend his lunch at the shooting range.

"Because, Carlton, the Chief asked me to, but I have a lunch appointment with a friend," Juliet said, perched on the edge of his desk. "Sorry, Charlie."

"Why can't she take them?" he asked stubbornly. He'd be damned if he didn't get down to the range.

"I don't know. She said she had an appointment, and that she wouldn't be back," Juliet said, hopping off of Carlton's desk. "See you after lunch."

"Yeah, see you," he said, turning his attentions to the neat stack of papers on his desk. He flipped through them. They were just budget reports and, like always, Chief Vick was requesting more money to be put into hiring, and Carlton was sure that, like always, it would be denied. But something stuck out from the black and white budget reports. A purple sticky note. Carlton plucked it out of the pile.

"Iris' doctor appointment 12:30," he read. He thought back to that beautiful little baby he had held, but it was highly likely that she wasn't that small anymore.

"I hope she gets better," he muttered as he gathered the papers to take down to City Hall.

…

"Alrighty, Iris, can you tell me what's wrong?" Doctor Winslet asked, sitting across from Iris. Iris took a sideways glance at her mother, who nodded.

"Um, my stomach hurts, and so does my head," Iris said shyly. Doctor Winslet scribbled it down.

"Anything else?" she asked, looking at Karen.

"She started running a fever last night, 100.4. She threw up this morning. She's been sleeping a lot," Karen said, looking at her daughter.

Doctor Winslet nodded.

"Okay, Iris, I need you to lie down," she said, touching Iris' shoulder.

"Ouch!" Iris cried, flinching away from the doctor's hand.

"Are you okay, baby?" Karen asked, starting to stand.

"I'm okay, Mommy," the little girl said, laying down on the table.

"When did your shoulder start hurting?" Doctor Winslet asked as she felt Iris' stomach. "Tell me if this hurts."

"It's been hurt for a while, but I was playing soccer a few days ago and it started hurting really bad," Iris said, sitting up as the doctor moved away.

Karen was confused. Why was Doctor Winslet focused on her shoulder?

"Okay, Ms. Vick, I'd like to take a blood sample, just to make sure everything's okay. I'm going to prescribe her something to help with nausea and fever. A nurse will be in to take blood momentarily," the doctor said, scribbling more on her clipboard as she left the room.

"Mommy, does it hurt?" Iris asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Does what hurt, baby?" Karen asked.

"Getting blood taken," the little girl said, still laying on the table, staring around at the polka dotted walls.

"Only a little bit," Karen promised, looking over at her. A nurse came in a few moments later. She took the blood quickly, chatting to Iris to ease her nerves, and then left just as quickly.

They sat there for a long time. Iris was ready to go home and get in bed, and, honestly, so was Karen. It had been a tough several weeks for them, but it finally seemed to be getting better.

Finally, after the umpteenth round of eye spy, Doctor Winslet reappeared.

"Ms. Vick, could I speak to you for a moment?" she asked, motioning out into the hall.

"I'll be right back, baby," she said to Iris, who nodded. Karen stepped out into the hall. "What's wrong?"

"Well, Iris's red blood cells are extremely low, and her white blood cells are extremely high. I don't want to alarm you, but we'd like to run a bone marrow biopsy," the doctor said.

"What is that?" Karen asked, stomach already dropping.

"It's a procedure to remove a small piece of bone and bone marrow from the hip," she explained, noting the worry in Karen's eyes.

"Why does she need it? I just thought she had the flu," Karen said, wringing her hands.

"We just want to make sure that Iris's blood is okay. Now, it can wait for a few days, what ever is better for you, but I strongly suggest we get this over with," Doctor Winslet said, looking Karen in the eyes. "I won't lie to you; this procedure hurts like a bitch. Iris will need to be sedated. But we need to make sure that she is okay."

"Okay, how soon can you schedule it?" Karen asked. Doctor Winslet smiled.

"I happen to have a hematologist on lunch who owes me a favor."

.

Within the hour, Iris was asleep, with all kinds of monitors hooked up to her. She was gripping Karen's hand, even in her sleep, as Doctor Moody pushed the needle into her hip. Karen flinched. It was a huge needle. Iris didn't stir. Karen couldn't look anymore. It hurt her to watch.

What seemed like an eternity later, Iris was band-aided and being taken to recovery, and a piece of her bone was being sent to the lab on rush order. Karen followed the nurse to recovery and sat down beside Iris, thanking the nurse. Iris was still asleep, so Karen read a year old copy of some awful magazine.

When Doctor Winslet came in, she knew something bad was happening. She followed the doctor into the hall and braced herself for the news, what ever it was.

But nothing could prepare her for it, or for the years to come.

"Your daughter has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia."


End file.
